A Cautionary Tale to Those Seeking Higher Education (In Mystic Falls)
by Chaosinchains91
Summary: My take on how the fifth season could be. Bonnie, Elena, and Caroline are all dormmates and starting college in Mystic Falls. New players and some Original ones as well.
1. Chapter 1

**A Cautionary Tale to Those Seeking Higher Education **

_**(In Mystic Falls)**_

_**Chapter One: Friends Forever…Literally!**_

"That's our dorm?!" Caroline Forbes stared up at the Turquoise Southern plantation style home with hints of Victorian Gothic flair thrown into the mix. Large white columns wrapped in Ivy supported the house as the stone steps leading onto the large wrap around porch holding rattan furniture painted white with plush cushions, the same turquoise as the house, and white porch swings beckoning any passerby to while away the afternoon in them. Elena Gilbert stared at the piece of paper in her hands and then nodded grinning, at her two best friends. "According to the map the Residential Office gave me, this is the place we will be spending the next four years of our lives in." The brunette vampire bit her bottom lip nervously looking down at her toffee colored high heeled boots and the cobble stone path way leading to their new home. "I've already missed prom and graduation thanks to me not being able to cope and turning my humanity off. I refuse to let myself not enjoy every minute with my best friends in college." Her chin wobbled lightly as she stated her resolution. She had been an evil, ruthless, cold hearted bitch when she flipped her switch after she had been unable to cope with the death of her little brother, Jeremy Gilbert after the disastrous search for the cure for vampirism, which had resulted in Silas rising and trying to bring Hell on Earth.

Bonnie Bennet put a sympathetic hand on her best friend's shoulder gently, murmuring. "Hey, you weren't the only one who was treading on the dark side last year. I was completely overtaken by Expression and I did help Silas destroy the veil to the other side, all because I missed Jeremy and Grams so much, and wanted to see them again." Elena nodded smiling at the witch warmly. "True, but you did manage to bring back Jeremy and seeing him alive and well brought me out of my emotionless state. And if it weren't for your quick thinking I'd still be in the fetal position sobbing over everything I'd done while my switch was flipped still hiding in the Salvatore's basement." Elena turned to Caroline who just shrugged. "Wasn't me, it was Klaus, he's the one that came up with the idea to compel you so you could handle it." Caroline's cheeks glowed warmly at the mention of her boyfriend's name. Bonnie and Elena giggled at their best friend's reaction, "Seriously Caroline, you're with him now, there's no need to blush or look away every time you or one of us mentions his name!" Bonnie grinned as Elena tried to quell the giggles.

At first, the witch and the Doppelganger vampire had been against their friend and the Original Hybrid getting together, especially after they found out about Klaus and Hayley's one night stand that had turned into a whole lot more than any of them had bargained for. The werewolf side of Klaus had somehow impregnated Hayley, and while any more notions of romance were out of the question for the two, they had decided to start a truce of sorts for the sake of the unborn child. True Caroline was not fond of Hayley at all, Caroline respected Klaus's decision to take full responsibility for his actions. It had been during his confession to Caroline about Hayley and her "condition," and just how said "condition" came to pass, that Caroline had finally thrown caution to the wind and let her feelings out for Klaus. Had she been pissed that Wereslut had gotten to yet another man she loved? Yes! But the fact that Klaus told the truth about it, was what calmed her down. He hadn't tried to play it off as something it wasn't, much like Tyler had the last night she had seen him. Dancing in his eyes at his former manor, that now belonged to Matt Donovan, that night while the guests for her after prom party had yet to begin arriving, Tyler Lockwood had spoken of having to leave again, but that he would come around again sometime. Caroline had believed him, until she had looked into his eyes, and seen the truth. He was not simply saying 'see you again,' he was saying 'goodbye.' At first, Caroline had been heartbroken, then one day she woke up realizing that the whole draw to her relationship with the werewolf had been the danger and excitement of being together, and puppy love. The feelings she never wanted to have for someone else were much deeper than what she and Tyler had had. In hopes of an intervention, Caroline had told Bonnie, Damon, and Stefan, her true feelings for that man that had caused them so much chaos. Bonnie surprisingly, was against Caroline ever telling Klaus, let alone ever being with him. The Salvatore brothers after seeing how Klaus acted around Caroline and how changed he had become after meeting her however gave Caroline her full support. What finally convinced Bonnie to be happy for Caroline's decision was the night that Klaus compelled a grief stricken Elena to not kill herself, and that she would be strong enough to handle all the things that she had done in her own time. That she would continue to live her unlife because there were friends that needed her here. He did it out of love for Caroline, and after making sure that Elena was going to be okay, he kissed Caroline and headed back to his home in New Orleans. He still had Marcel to overthrow and witches forced to do the self appointed king of New Orleans that needed to be freed. He also had his redemption to work on, though Elijah, Katarina and Rebekah and Stefan were helping him more than he could ever have imagined.

A ping alerted Caroline of another text message and she took it out of the pocket of her stylish pink trench coat and sighed dreamily as she replied to the text. "When's the next time you'll be seeing each other?" Bonnie asked her friend gently. Caroline sighed and put her phone back into her pocket. "At the end of the month, he's coming for the three day weekend. You guys are so lucky that your boyfriends live in town!" She whined playfully. This time it was Elena and Bonnie that blushed and looked down embarrassed. Jeremy Gilbert had come back to life when Silas had destroyed the wall to the other side and had helped Bonnie trap the vampiric warlock on the other side for eternity. After Elena had her humanity restored to her, she had figured out her feelings for Damon had been real and they had reunited. Stefan surprisingly was not crushed by this in the least. He had gone off to live his own life and had ended up with Rebekah in New Orleans. It was still a little weird thinking about the two being together, but they were all getting used to it.


	2. Undead and Coed!

_**Chapter Two: Dorm of the Mostly Undead, Definitely Coed!**_

The three women were pleasantly surprised when they entered their new dorm to discover that they were not the first ones to arrive. The whole house smelled of something delicious cooking in the kitchen and soft rock music flowed softly from the same direction. After putting their bags down on the living room floor, they decided to go investigate the source of the smell and the music. Walking into the huge kitchen where stainless steel and marble surfaces sparkled from being freshly scrubbed and large stainless steel pots simmered on the stove, they looked around for the person who had been cleaning and cooking, but they did not see anyone in the kitchen. Elena stood over the pot and looked inside of it curiously. A delicious smelling sauce met her nostrils as Caroline grinned appreciatively. "Mm, Marsala sauce, one of my favorites." She replied excitedly looking in the next pot which contained boiling spaghetti enough to feed a small army. Bonnie looked over to one of the gleaming countertops and found a purple Acer Aspire One netbook sitting on the counter with Itunes open and shuffle selected on the play list settings. The next song, one of Lana Del Rey's unreleased songs started playing.

_I told you not to go into the woods,_

_I told you that he wasn't any good…_

Caroline smiled softly, this particular song had always reminded her of her and Klaus. She wished she could have seen him longer than she had before starting school next week, but something had happened in New Orleans and he had been unable to stay any longer.

A small crash in the basement broke Caroline's reverie and she was the first one through the door and down the stairs to see who had made the noise. A pretty brunette was retrieving a bottle of wine from the refrigerated wine rack in the back of the basement. She smiled warmly at the three of them. "Sorry bout taking over the kitchen, I just figured that having a nice home cooked meal would be a lot better than ramen or pizza the first night. I hope y'all like Sirloin Marsala and Spaghetti Pompadoro. I also have Bruschetta to munch on while we wait for the food to be ready." She grinned at all of them and then realized that with all she had said she had yet to say who she was. "Oh yeah, I'm Cloie Rian, by the way." After introductions were done, they followed Cloie into the kitchen. Sitting around the long breakfast bar on the high iron barstools, they passed around the bottle of wine and cranked up the music a few notches. Over Bruschetta, Neon Trees, and Merlot, they became fast friends with the new girl quickly. The conversation was fun and light, favorite music, movies, boys, and other light, fluffy topics like that. They were dancing around the room to an Egypt Central song, while Cloie stirred her Pompadoro sauce in the large saucepan when she let go of the wooden spoon to turn down the heat, and they were all surprised to see the spoon still stirring, all by itself! Bonnie grinned at Cloie. "I thought you were, but I couldn't tell for sure. I'm a witch too and you can tell what Elena and Caroline are, I'm sure." Cloie nodded and motioned to their daylight rings. "Knew from the moment I saw those." She admitted. Any other town and there might have been an uproar at all of these recent developments, but this was Mystic Falls, where more and more supernatural beings were popping up, especially after "The Rising," the event where Silas had temporarily destroyed the Other Side last year during their high school graduation and dead supernaturals had been coming back to life all over the world. Plenty had come back to life before Bonnie and a newly risen Jeremy had been able to restore the Other Side. "The Rising" had been a world wide event, and there was no way to truly tell just how many had been brought back. Bonnie's guess were thousands. "Well this means we don't have to hide who we really are." Elena shrugged as she took another bite of her Bruschetta, making a small noise of enjoyment at the taste again. "Rian, is that Italian?" She asked her new friend who was now serving the steak and spaghetti before smothering both with the two sauces and handing a plate to each of them. "No actually, it's Irish but I used to work at this little Italian place so I learned all their recipes by heart. I used to go to high school then pull the afternoon to close shift at work. Didn't have much time for fun but I was able to pay for college here all by myself." Smiling, she sat down before taking a bite. "This is amazing!" Elena gushed as everyone dug in. "Thank you. I guess the last person who lives here will be here later tonight or tomorrow morning. Bet their supernatural like us." Caroline nodded twirling the last of her spaghetti onto her fork. "Makes sense to keep all of us in one place, to keep an eye on us. And this place is bigger than even Lockwood Manor and the Mikaelson's old place." Caroline replied washing the dishes while Elena dried and Bonnie put the dishes away. "Either way, they're a lot more accepting of us than they were in my old town." Cloie replied while cleaning the stove and the countertops until they sparkled once again. "Mom and I were avoided like the plague, I even had to sneak into work through the back and stay in the kitchen the entire time so no one knew that I worked there."

Bonnie opened the stainless steel double door fridge and freezer and placed the wrapped leftovers in there. "Damn, and I thought I had it hard being the residential witch, casting spells whenever they were needed. I bet you would have given anything to be able to be utilized like that." She said softly, seeing her life in a new perspective. Cloie nodded as she sliced and then chopped up a smaller piece of steak from dinner, mixing in a little of the Marsala sauce and placing it on a saucer on the kitchen floor.

Standing straight back up, she wiped her hands on her jeans looking around the room. "I hope all of you like cats, I had to bring my familiar with me. He didn't get along with my mom's cat back home." Elena grinned as a young black cat walked regally into the kitchen, meowing once and then devouring the offered food. "We don't mind, none of us have ever had a pet before, this should be fun." The cat done eating licked his lips before rubbing on all the legs of the women. "His name is Abyss."

After a movie marathon of romantic comedies and old black and white movies and musicals, the four friends fell asleep on the many decadent sofas and chaise lounges in the lushly furnished living room, the dark red curtains drawn and the sounds of the last musical coming from the TV. Cloie sighed dreamily as Abyss climbed into her lap and a cashmere throw large enough for her queen size bed empty and waiting upstairs in her bedroom appeared over the witch and under the cat. After dinner, they had all settled into their rooms and then changed into pajamas before taking over the living room.

The four women and the cat sound asleep was the first sight that greeted Kol Mikaelson when he walked through the door of his new dorm at eight the next morning. He had been visiting his brothers in New Orleans the night before and he had driven all night to make it there by morning. Klaus would be happy to learn that he was in the same dorm as Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie, and he could keep an eye on them and protect them. He walked silently through the living room, seeing the three friends that he recognized asleep on their separate pieces of furniture, the menu on a DVD constantly playing softly in the background. A soft yawn coming from one of the chaise lounges drew his attention as the black cat yowled unhappily and then jumped off the lap he had been resting on. The blanket that been piled up completely covering the person under it shifted and he caught his first glimpse of the curious beauty beneath it.

Tousled Mahogany curls cascaded down pale shoulders left bare except for a thin violet spaghetti strap on each one holding up a violet cotton and lace camisole. The blanket shifted to the floor revealing long pale legs encased only in lime green and violet polka dot cotton and lace boy shorts. Pale lilac nails pushed back a few unruly curls and peridot eyes blinked sleepily at him for a few seconds before becoming alert. Bending down, the woman grabbed a pair of dark relaxed fit jeans, giving Kol a lovely view of her ample cleavage. She was about a D cup, he guessed to himself, before she sat back up and slipped them on over her underwear. Standing up on bare feet, Kol looked the young woman up and down appreciatively, noticing her toes matched her nails. She was curvaceous yet petite at the same time, reaching about five four and a half, and for some reason, she greatly intrigued him. That and the immense power she seemed to have crackling all around her. Witches had always fascinated Kol and this one was more fascinating than many others he had met in his thousand years. She glanced at his hand, seeing his white gold antique daylight ring on his right ring finger, and then his bags lying on the floor. "Oh, so you're a vampire too like Elena and Caroline. I was wondering who else was going to be living here. Guess the school officials wanted all the creatures together in one dorm, after all. Anyway, I'm Cloie, that's Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline. Why don't you get settled in while I get some breakfast started. How does pancakes sound?"

Kol grinned at the vivacious Cloie and bowed politely. "Enchanted, Miss Cloie I'm Kol. Pancakes sounds lovely and I already am acquainted with the lovely Misses Bennet, Forbes, and Gilbert. I look forward to getting to know you, you're from a line of witches I have yet to encounter, and that is a hard feat in itself." Grinning at the obvious curiosity on her face, he quit the living room to settle in upstairs. "Always leave them wanting more," He whispered to himself before walking down the hallway looking for his room. Finding the last bedroom at the end of the hall, he grinned as he detected the same cherry blossom and peach scent he had smelled on Cloie just moments before in the bedroom right across from his. His choice to go to college once again was paying off very nicely.

Caroline sighed as she rolled over on the sofa. She had heard a very familiar voice in her dreams, but it wasn't the one she wanted to hear. The smell of pancakes soon filled the air, and she stood up, stretching and muttering about dreaming about the wrong brother.

"Ah, but love it wasn't a dream. Guess who's your new dorm mate." An all too familiar voice sing songed from the stair well. All the hairs stood up on the back of her neck as her eyes darted from Kol to Elena. Would he truly forgive like he claimed to the day he was risen, or was this just some scheme to get close to her and her brother and exact his revenge for them killing them?


End file.
